DENVER – Little-used tight end Xavier Grimble had the end zone in front of him and one player to beat en route to his first touchdown of the season Sunday afternoon.

Grimble took a pass from Ben Roethlisberger and went 23 yards toward the left pylon for a score that would’ve given the Pittsburgh Steelers the lead on their second series against the Denver Broncos.

Grimble never did get the 24 th yard that would have finished off the score. He was met at the Broncos 1 by safety Will Parks, who dislodged the ball.

The ball rolled out of bounds just beyond the pylon for a touchback. It was the first of four turnovers for the Steelers in their 24-17 loss.

“I would have scored had I held onto the ball,” Grimble said.

Grimble said he saw Parks approaching, but he didn’t think about cutting back inside.

“I wanted to run right through him,” Grimble said. “I was probably too aggressive.”

Grimble was the primary receiver on the third-and-1 play. He cut across the defense and caught the pass with only open grass – and Parks – in his vision.

“He didn’t surprise me at all. I saw him coming,” Grimble said. “It was a nice play-action, it faked the defense out. We waited for them all to flow, and I kind of snuck out there. We practice that all the time.”

Parks said he slowed down as he approach Grimble to see whether the tight end would try to change direction.

“I’ve been working on my angles in practice, and it showed up,” Parks said. “Either he was slow, or he let up. I don’t really care. I just had to make the play for the team.”

The reception was the only one in the game for Grimble, who has five catches for 70 yards on the season.

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